THE 


 Bk.T^^ 

 E.  


THE  ETHEL  CARR  PEACOCK 
MEMORIAL  COLLECTION 

Main's  amori  monumentum 


TRINITY  COLLEGE  LIBRARY 

DURHAM,  N.  C. 
1903 


Gift  of  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Dred  Peacock 


An  Historical  Oration 
THE  LIFE  AND  LABORS 

—OF— 

Rev.  Hezekiah  G.  Leigh,  D.  D., 

DELIVERED  IN  KINSTON,  N.  C, 

 BY  

Rev.  W.  H.  Moore,  D.  D., 

— OF— 

5T>e  3\ort^  ©ctrotirya  ©oi)fereT)ce, 
DECEMBER  8,  1896. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2014 


https://archive.org/details/historicaloratio01moor 


Mr.  President,  and  Members  of  the  Historical  Society  of  the  North 
Carolina  Conference  : 

To  honor  the  living  who  deserve  our  esteem  on  account  of  their 
virtues,  is  both  a  duty  and  a  pleasure.  We  are  not  slow  to  recog- 
nize the  worth  of  those  who  have  put  us  under  obligations  to  them, 
by  enriching  us  in  material  things,  whether  their  services  have 
been  rendered  to  us  as  individuals,  or  as  the  benefactors  of  man- 
kind. But,  to  hold  in  grateful  and  loving  remembrance  the  names 
and  virtues  of  our  sainted  dead,  and  to  keep  these  fresh  in  the 
minds  of  the  living,  making  of  them  an  inspiration  to  a  nobler  life 
for  ourselves,  and  coming  generations,  is  a  duty  we  owe  both  to 
the  dead  and  the  living. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  refinement  of  a  people  can  be  judged 
of  by  the  care  the}*  take  of  the  graves  of  their  dead  ;  and,  it  may 
be  more  truthfully  said,  that  a  peoples  appreciation  of  a  noble  life 
is  manifested  by  the  sacredness  with  which  the  memory  of  that 
life  is  cherished. 

Nations  build  monuments  of  brass,  and  stone,  to  perpetuate  the 
memory  of  those  who  have  rendered  signal  service  to  their  country, 
and  the  Church  should  not  be  less  slow  to  embalm  in  grateful  re- 
membrance the  memor)-  of  those  who  have  wrought  well  in  her 
interest.  It  is  piety,  not  patriotism,  which  says,  "The  righteous 
shall  be  had  in  everlasting  remembrance. ' ' 

I  could  have  wished,  at  the  time  your  partiality  devolved  on  me 
the  task  I  am  now  attempting  to  perform,  that  it  had  fallen  to  the 
lot  of  one  more  competent  to  worthily  fulfill  your  wish  ;  for  sure- 
ly, a  life  so  consecrated,  and  useful,  should  have  a  rarely  gifted 
tongue  to  perpetuate  its  memory.  But,  however  far  I  may  fall 
short  of  a  worthy  performance  of  my  task,  I  shall  be  conscious 
that  I  have  brought  to  its  accomplishment  a  heart  loyal  to  the 
purpose  of  the  Society,  and  as  earnest  a  desire  as  any  can  cherish 
that  the  picture  of  our  distinguished  brother's  life  should  have  a 
frame  as  noble  as  itself  in  which  to  hang  it  on  the  walls  of  our 
memory. 

Liks  some  tall  peak  which  lifts  itself  far  above  the  mountain 
range  and  which  seems  to  grow  taller  by  recession  from  it,  so 
does  the  life  of  this  eminent  servant  of  God  and  the  Church  in 
the  lengthning  distance  of  time  grow  larger  and  more  impressive 
to  those  who  contemplate  it. 


Ill  reviewing  the  life  and  labors  of  him  who  is  the  subject  of  this 
address,  his  Family  History  will  naturally  claim  our  attention  first. 

Hris  Farqiiy  History. 

Hezekiah  Gilbert  Leigh  was  born  in  Durand's  Neck,  Perquim- 
ans County,  North  Carolina,  November  23rd,  1795,  and  was  of 
Scotch-Irish  descent.  His  early  ancestors  came  to  "the  James 
River  section"  of  Virginia,  and  settled  there  soon  after  the  estab- 
lishment of  "the  Jamestown  Colony."  Gilbert  Leigh,  the  grand- 
father of  Hezekiah,  moved  from  the  James  River  section  to 
Durand's  Neck,  in  the  year  1 760.  He  bought  lands  near  the  New 
Hope  M.  E.  Church,  and  built  a  residence  there,  which  is  still 
standing,  and  occupied  as  a  dwelling.  It  was  in  this  house  that 
Hezekiah  was  born.  Richard  Leigh,  son  of  Gilbert  Leigh,  and 
Elizabeth,  his  wife,  was  born  October  14th,  1773.  Richard  was 
married  to  Charlotte  Spruill,  December  18th,  1794,  and  their  son, 
Hezekiah  Gilbert,  was  born  November  23rd,  1795. 

Of  Hezekiah' s  childhood  I  have  not  been  able  to  gather  any- 
thing of  public  interest.  Imagination  must  fill  a  gap  of  fifteen 
years  ;  but  we  may  well  believe  him  to  have  been  a  bright  and 
health}'  lad,  with  more  than  ordinary  ambition  for  mental  culture. 
Socially,  his  family  ranked  among  the  best,  and,  having  both  lands 
and  slaves,  his  parents  were  able  to  give  their  son  the  best  edu- 
cational advantages  offered  by  the  schools  of  that  time. 

The  old  Colonial  town  of  Edenton,  though  not  so  populous  then, 
as  now,  was,  nevertheless,  a  place  of  great  importance.  It  was 
the  rival  of  any  town  in  the  State  for  commerce,  culture,  and 
social  life.  There  was  an  Academy  here,  and,  as  this  school  af- 
forded better  facilities  than  could  be  obtained  nearer  home,  Hez- 
ekiah was  entered  at  this  Academy  in  1810,  at  which  time  he  had 
attained  the  age  of  15  years.  He  remained  in  this  school  two 
years,  and,  on  leaving  it,  returned  to  his  home  in  Durand's  Neck, 
where  he  taught  till  he  was  about  22  years  old. 

What  purpose  in  life  he  may  have  cherished,  what  avocation, 
or  profession  he  intended  to  follow,  is  unknown.  Though  his 
education  was  only  academical,  it  was  equal  to  that  of  any  of  the 
young  men  of  his  section,  and  placed  him  far  in  advance  of  the 
multitude.  An  honorable  career  might  have  been  his  at  the  Bar, 
in  Medicine,  or  in  the  halls  of  Legislation.  For  the  first,  and  the 
last  named,  he  was  pre-eminently  endorsed.  But,  whatever  may 
have  been  his  purpose,  this  year  was  remarkable  as  the  one  in 
which  occurred  the  event  which  proved  to  be  the  turning  point 
in  his  whole  subsequent  life.    God  had  a  great  work  for  him  to 


do,  and  this  was  the  year  of  his  conversion.  He  who  took  David 
from  the  sheep-cote,  and  anointed  him  to  be  the  King  of  Israel, 
took  this  young  man  out  of  the  school-room  and  anointed  him  with 
divine  power,  as  a  preacher  of  the  gospel  of  His  Son. 

Tradition  says,  "he  was  converted  in  an  old-fashioned  Meth- 
odist Camp-Meeting,  held  at  Nags  Head  Chapel,"  one  of  the  ap- 
pointments of  the  present  Perquimans  circuit.  The  meeting  in 
which  he  was  converted  was  conducted  by  the  Rev.  Henry  Holmes 
and  others.  Doubtless  there  were  others  converted  at  this  meet- 
ing, but  had  young  Leigh  been  the  solitary  convert,  as  is  said  to 
have  been  the  case  in  Georgia,  where  young  James  Osgood  An- 
drew was  the  only  convert,  the  meeting  would  have  been  a  great 
success.  The  conversion  of  one  such  soul  is  worth  a  life-time  ef- 
fort. Who  but  God  can  tell  what  shall  be  the  result,  in  all  its 
bearings,  on  the  Church  and  State,  or  that  of  individual  souls? 

At  the  time  of  his  conversion,  much  the  larger  part  of  the  ter- 
ritory now  embraced  in  the  North  Carolina  Conference,  was  in  the 
bounds  of  the  Virginia.  Believing  himself  to  be  called  of  God  to 
preach  the  gospel,  he  "conferred  not  with  flesh  and  blood,"  but 
devoted  himself  at  once  to  the  work,  offered  himself  to  the  Vir- 
ginia Conference,  in  the  bounds  of  which  he  was  living,  and  to 
which,  under  God,  he  was  indebted  for  his  conversion. 

His  application  was  favorably  acted  upon,  and  he  was  "received 
on  trial,"  by  the  Conference  at  its  session  in  February,  1818.  He 
remained  an  honored,  as  he  was  a  distinguished  member  of  that 
body,  till  the  creation  of  the  North  Carolina  Conference  in  1836, 
at  which  time  he  became  a  member  of  this  Conference,  which 
membership  he  retained  till  his  death,  September  18th,  1853. 

On  January  the  5th,  1830,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Mary  Jane 
Crump,  a  daughter  of  Major  Richard  Crump,  of  Northampton 
county,  in  this  State  ;  and  soon  after  his  marriage  bought  a 
plantation,  and  settled  his  family  near  Boydton,  Mecklenburg 
county,  Virginia,  which  was  the  seat  of  Randolph- Macon  College, 
of  which  Institution  he  was  Founder. 

There  were  born  to  him  six  children.  The  oldest  child,  Lieut. 
Col.  R.  W.  Leigh,  of  the  43rd  Mississippi  Regiment,  was  killed  in 
the  battle  of  Corinth,  October  22nd,  1862. 

H.  G.  Leigh,  M.  D.,  now  resides,  as  he  has  long  done,  in  Pe- 
tersburg, Va. ,  and  is  an  honored  member  of  that  community,  and 
distinguished  in  his  profession. 

J.  H.  Leigh,  whose  surpassing  eloquence  crowned  him  as  "the 
silver  tongued  orator  of  Mississippi,"  died  November  7th,  1891. 


—3— 


Louisa  C.  Leigh,  married  Judge  John  B.  Sale,  of  Mississippi, 
and  died  in  the  summer  of  1864. 

Mary  Alice  Leigh,  married  Capt.  James  E.  Craddock,  and  is 
now  a  widow,  living  in  Columbus,  Mississippi. 

F.  M.  Leigh,  the  youngest  child,  lives  in  Columbus,  Mississippi, 
and  is  now  a  man  of  52  years,  having  been  born  in  February,  1844. 

Mary  Jane  Leigh,  widow  of  the  Rev.  H.  G.  Leigh,  D.  D.,  died 
in  Columbus,  Mississippi,  April  14th,  1881,  and  is  buried  in  the 
city  where  she  died.  The  mortal  remains  of  her  husband  rest  in 
the  old  Randolph- Macon  cemetery,  Mecklenburg  county,  Virginia. 
Widely  separated  is  their  sleeping  dust,  but  they  rest  well  after 
life's  toilsome  day,  and  he  who  watched  over  them  so  tenderly 
while  living,  shall  one  day  call  them  thence,  and  glorified  togeth- 
er, they  shall  be  forever  "present  with  the  Lord." 

Hris  labors. 

Having  given  this  much  of  Dr.  Leigh's  Family  History,  I  may 
be  permitted  now  to  speak  of  his  labors,  and  the  eminent  success 
with  which  they  were  crowned. 

As  we  have  already  seen,  he  was  "received  on  trial"  by  the 
Virginia  Conference  at  its  session  in  February,  18 18.  His  splen- 
did physique,  his  mental,  and  spiritual  endowments  brought  him 
into  prominence  at  once,  and  so  well  did  he  meet  the  responsibil- 
ities of  his  position,  in  all  places  where  he  became  known,  he  was 
held  up  by  the  Laity  as  a  model  for  his  successors. 

There  were  giants  in  those  days,  and  Hezekiah  G.  Leigh  stood 
at  the  head,  the  peer  of  any,  and  the  most  influential  of  them  all. 

A  list  of  the  appointments  he  filled  in  both  the  Virginia,  and 
North  Carolina  Conferences  will  abundantly  confirm  this  state- 
ment. His  appointments  were  :  Bedford,  Raleigh,  Gloucester, 
Norfolk,  Petersburg,  Meherrin  District,  James  River  District,  Agt. 
for  Randolph- Macon  College,  Petersburg  District,  Raleigh  Dis- 
trict, Henderson  Circuit  ;  and,  finally,  he  was  for  a  second  time 
Presiding  Elder  of  the  Raleigh  District,  and  Agt.  for  Randolph- 
Macon  College. 

For  eighteen  years  he  was  a  member  of  the  Virginia,  and  seven- 
teen a  member  of  the  North  Carolina  Conference  ;  nearly  six  years 
of  which  latter  period  he  was  without  an  appointment,  on  account 
of  bodily  affliction,  which  incapacitated  him  for  active  work. 

With  the  mental  endowments  he  possessed,  and  the  academic 
training  he  had  received,  added  to  by  an  extensive  course  of  read- 
ing, which  made  him  familiar  with  the  English  classics,  and  gave 
him  a  readiness  of  speech  in  conversation,  and  an  elegant  diction 

—4— 


in  public  discourse,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  his  broad  mind 
should  be  pained  at,  and  keenly  sympathize  with  the  masses  who 
were  not  only  living  in  ignorance,  but  were  indifferent  to  their 
surroundings.  Still  less  is  it  to  be  wondered  at  that  he  should  be 
pained  to  see  a  young  man  entering  the  ministry  of  the  Church, 
with  every  qualification  for  success  save  that  of  mental  culture, 
and  doomed  by  its  lack  to  an  almost  barren  ministry. 

An  '  'experience  of  grace" — a  sound  conversion — to  "know  God 
in  the  pardon  of  sins,"  has  always  been  regarded  by  the  church 
as  the  first  necessity  for  a  preacher.  In  the  earlier  days  of  her 
history  a  man  who  had  none  of  the  subtile  forms  of  sin  to  fight,  but 
only  its  grosser  ones,  could,  by  "telling  his  experience"  out  of  a 
warm  heart,  win  those  who  were  out  of  Christ.  But  the  times 
were  changing,  had  changed,  in  so  man}'  places,  that  if  Method- 
ism held  her  own  as  a  spiritual  force  in  the  world,  particularly  in 
the  towns,  and  more  thickly  settled  rural  sections,  the  education 
of  the  ministry,  far  beyond  what  it  then  was,  had  become  a  neces- 
sity. 

Dr.  Leigh  was  one  of  the  first  men  in  the  church  to  see  this  ne- 
cessity, and,  with  him  to  see  a  thing,  was  to  act.  His  action  was 
along  two  lines,  both  of  which  looked  to  the  accomplishment  of 
the  same  result.  He  first  secured  the  raising  of  the  standard  for 
admission  into  the  Conference,  and  then  a  wider  compulsory  course 
of  study  for  the  four  years  preceding  ordination  to  the  full  duties 
of  the  gospel  ministry. 

This  was  of  incalcuable  benefit  to  the  churches,  and  to  the  men 
themselves.  It  sharpened  many  a  battle-axe,  and  tempered  many 
a  trenchant  blade,  which  otherwise  would  have  remained  as  dull 
as  a  hoe,  and  as  untempered  as  mortar  into  which  no  lime  has 
been  put. 

But,  to  get  the  best  results  he  knew  that  more  thoroughness 
was  essential  than  this  "Conference  Course"  would  give.  He 
saw  that  an  institution  of  college  grade  was  necessary,  in  which 
at  least  a  good  proportion  of  young  men  called  of  God  to  preach 
might  receive  a  more  liberal  education.  Some  young  men  who 
believed  themselves  called  to  preach,  hesitated  from  lack  of  prep- 
aration. With  Dr.  Leigh  a  call  to  preach,  meant  a  call  to  get 
read}'  to  preach,  for  those  not  already  prepared  ;  and  he  earnestly 
desired  to  put  a  liberal  education  in  reach  of  all  who  could,  and 
would  take  it.  And,  besides  this,  Dr.  Leigh  saw  the  disastrous 
effects  of  educating  our  young  people  in  colleges  of  other  denom- 
inations, or,  worse  than  that,  of  educating  them  in  colleges  where 
religion  is  ignored.    His  motto  was  :  "Religion  and  learning  must 

—5- 


go  together. ' '  But,  state  institutions  did  not  offer  such,  and  those 
of  other  denominations  did  it  with  a  bias  that  tendered  to  alienate 
our  young  men  from  the  church  of  their  fathers.  His  watchful 
eye  detected  these  influences  at  work  against  the  progress  of  the 
church  in  the  more  intelligent  communities,  and  he  set  himself  to 
remedy  them.    But,  how  could  it  be  done? 

To  raise  a  sum  sufficient  to  put  up  such  buildings  as  were  de- 
sirable, was,  indeed,  an  herculian  task.  The  mass  of  the  church 
were  then,  more  than  now,  indifferent  to  higher  education  ;  and  it 
was  questionable  if  the  minority  who  were  interested  and  had  the 
means,  could  be  induced  to  contribute  it.  A  man  without  faith 
in  God  would  not  have  thought  of  taking  on  himself  such  a  task  ; 
but,  actuated  by  that  faith  Dr.  Leigh  began  to  talk  the  matter  of 
a  college  in  private,  and  to  preach  about  it  in  public.  He  met 
with  many  discouragements,  (and  who  has  not  in  any  great  and 
new  enterprise?)  but  he  triumphed  over  them  all.  Such  was  his 
success  the  Conference  at  its  session  in  1829  determined  to  build 
a  college,  and  appointed  a  committee  to  select  the  site. 

Several  communities  competed  for  the  prize  ;  but  the  college  was 
located  near  Boydton,  Va.  One  strong  reason  for  locating  it  in 
Virginia  was  the  hope  of  getting  some  aid  from  the  State  treasury  ; 
there  being  a  law  that  as  soon  as  the  School  Fund  reached  a  cer- 
tain point,  the  residue  should  be  disbursed  for  the  benefit  of  other 
schools  in  the  commonwealth.  That  proved,  however,  it  is  said, 
to  be  only  "a  trick  of  political  demagogues  for  securing  offices." 
The  college  has  never  received  any  help  from  the  State. 

Disappointed  in  this  expectation,  the  enterprise  was  threatened 
with  disaster.  Virginia  and  North  Carolina,  together,  furnished 
only  from  one  hundred  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  students,  a  part 
of  whom  came  from  South  Carolina  and  Georgia.  The  income 
was  not  sufficient  to  meet  expenses,  and  we  hear  the  great -souled 
founder  exclaiming:  "Why  do  not  our  men  of  head  and  heart 
come  to  the  rescue  ?  Why  do  they  not  send  in  their  offerings  to 
the  Lord,  and  whilst  they  live,  rejoice  in  the  good  their  liberality 
is  effecting  ?  Dying  ! — Why  do  they  not  remember  this  great  in- 
terest of  their  beloved  church  ?  Has  not  Randolph- Macon  another 
friend  like  Jesse  Harper  of  Orange,  in  all  our  bounds  ?  Oh  !  have 
we  no  Woffard  among  us  who  would  be  the  benefactor  of  his  race  ? 
Let  him  rear  a  monument  to  his  memory  which  shall  last  as  long 
as  religion  and  learning  shall  be  honored  amongst  a  free  and  happy 
people." 

He  had  borne  the  college  on  his  heart ;  he  had  contributed  to  it 
liberally  of  his  means.    It  was  the  child  of  his  praytrs  and  toils, 


and  he  who  had  never  failed  in  any  other  undertaking,  could  not 
see  it  struggling  for  life,  and  be  indifferent  to  its  cries.  Its  needs 
were  his  needs  ;  and  all  the  fires  of  his  great  soul  were  kindled  by 
its  neglect,  till  they  poured  themselves  out  on  the  ears  and  into 
the  heart  of  an  unwilling  church,  and  compelled  her  to  nurse  the 
starving  infant  into  healthy  life. 

The  gift  of  such  a  man  is  one  of  God's  best  boons  to  men.  Oh, 
for  one  such  in  every  Conference  of  Southern  Methodism  to-day  ! 
One  such,  to  shame  the  rest  with  the  magnitude  of  his  gifts  from 
a  scanty  store,  and  scorch  with  fiery  eloquence  the  consciences  of 
those  who  hoard,  till  all  the  church  needs  to  meet  this  demand 
shall  be  put  at  her  disposal. 

To  Dr.  Leigh  more  than  any  other,  perhaps  all  others,  is  the 
church  indebted  for  the  existence  of  Randolph- Macon  College, 
with  the  stream  of  beneficient  influences  it  has  been  pouring  into 
her  churchly  life  since  it  was  founded.  It  was  the  enterprise  he 
cherished  most  of  all,  and  one  that  shall  perpetuate  his  memory 
as  one  of  the  wisest  men  with  whose  labors  the  church  has  been 
blest. 

It  is  not  claimed,  however,  that  he  was  the  sole  instrument  in 
the  establishment  of  this,  the  first  successful  effort  to  found  a  dis- 
tinctively Methodist  college.  The  name  of  G.  P.  Disosway,  de- 
serves, as  it  will  always  have  honorable  mention  in  this  connection, 
as  an  ardent  friend  and  supporter  of  the  scheme  ;  but  Dr.  Leigh 
was  its  first  promoter,  as  he  was  its  most  influential,  and  life-long 
advocate.  The  College  stands  to-day  a  monument  to  his  wisely 
directed  zeal  for  the  upbuilding  of  Christ's  Kingdom  in  the  world, 
and  none  better  could  be  desired  to  perpetuate  his  memory.  Its 
buildings  may  decay  in  the  lapse  of  time,  but  others  shall  take 
their  places;  and,  when  "storied  urn"  and  bronze,  or  granite 
piles,  in  silence  point  to  some  forgotten  hero  of  the  world,  her 
walls  shall  ring  with  the  glad  voices  of  those  who  seek  in  them 
not  only  the  wisdom  of  this  world,  but  that  which  cometh  from 
above,  and  which  makes  its  possessor  doubly  blest— the  inheritor 
of  this  world,  and  that  which  is  to  come. 

In  1868  the  college  was  removed  from  near  Boydton,  to  Ash- 
land, Va. ,  where,  with  new  buildings  and  equipment,  it  has  had 
a  career  of  which  its  most  exacting  friends  may  be  justly  proud. 
The  plant  now  includes  the  Woman's  College,  located  at  Lynch- 
burg, Va. ,  with  an  endowment  of  more  than  an  hundred  thousand 
dollars,  besides  the  academies  at  Front  Royal,  and  Bedford  City, 
which  cost  an  hundred  thousand  dollars  each  to  erect  them.  These 


schools,  attended  by  five  hundred  students,  are  all  the  property  of 
the  church,  and  controlled  by  one  Board  of  Trustees. 

Great  as  are  these  results,  the  services  of  Dr.  Leigh  to  the  cause 
of  higher  education  would  be  but  imperfectly  conceived,  did  we 
stop  here.  He  was  a  member  of  the  first  Board  of  Trustees  for 
Greensboro  Female  College,  and  by  his  labors  made  Trinity  Col- 
lege an  easier  possibility.  The  tree  which  he  planted  is  filling 
both  States  with  its  fruitage.  The  name  given  to  the  college 
wisely  sought  to  bind  to  its  interests  the  two  States,  the  liberality 
of  whose  citizens  had  given  it  existence,  and  to  which  it  must  look 
for  its  principal  patronage.  Randolph  was  a  name  as  illustrious 
in  Virginia,  as  was  that  of  Macon  in  North  Carolina  ;  and,  indeed, 
the  two  were  of  national  repute.  The  blending  of  the  two  names 
in  one  gave  each  State  an  identity  of  interest  in  the  institution, 
and  a  common  pride  in  its  successful  career. 

Dr.  Leigh  was  a  North  Carolinian  by  birth,  and  a  member  of 
the  North  Carolina  Conference  by  preference  ;  but  he  had  fixed 
his  residence  near  the  college  in  Virginia,  and  was  so  fully  identified 
with  both  the  church  in  North  Carolina,  and  the  college  in  Vir- 
ginia, that  to  him  there  was  no  divisional  line  in  feeling  or  in  fact. 

The  church  in  North  Carolina  was,  by  this  means,  brought  to 
feel  that  the  college  was  her  property,  in  common  with  the 
church  in  Virginia  ;  and  so  fully  was  this  sameness  of  interest  felt, 
a  large  share  of  its  patronage  was  obtained  from  this  State,  and  a 
strong  feeling  of  affection  engendered  for  it,  which  remains  with 
many  among  us  to  this  day. 

Let  the  college  stand  in  the  future,  as  it  does  now,  and  has 
stood  in  the  past,  for  "Religion  and  Learning,"  as  differentiated 
from  culture  divorced  from  religion,  and  North  Carolinians  must 
feel  a  genuine  affection  for  it,  because  of  their  identification  with 
its  history — its  having  been  founded  by  one  of  our  noblest  citizens, 
and  bearing,  in  part,  the  name  of  one  of  her  most  illustrious 
statesmen. 

The  founding  of  the  college  being  the  great  work  of  his  life,  it  is  by 
that  he  will  be  chiefly  remembered  ;  but  this  great  work  was  carried 
to  success  while  he  was  doing  full  and  exceptionally  distinguished 
service  in  the  pulpits,  and  at  the  altars  of  the  church.  Multitudes 
attended  on  his  ministry,  and  to  hear  him  preach  was  reckoned 
among  the  greater  privileges  of  life.  The  larger  part  of  his  min- 
istry was  spent  in  the  Presiding  Eldership,  and  the  Quarterly 
Meetings  on  his  district  were  seasons  of  gracious  visitations.  It 
is  said  he  never  preached  three  sermons,  consecutively,  at  a  church 
without  having  a  revival.    Of  course  he  did  not  preach  at  all  times 


with  equal  effect,  but  his  sermons  were  always  carefully  prepared, 
and  left  no  feeling  of  disappointment  with  his  hearers,  except  that 
which  arises  from  comparative  excellence. 

They  never  compared  him  with  others,  but  always  with  him- 
self ;  and,  sometimes,  when  he  had  finished,  they  were  satisfied, 
but  knew  he  could  do  better.  Under  one  of  his  sermons,  in  Frank- 
lin county,  it  is  said  that  sixty  souls  were  converted  at  a  single 
service — the  service  continuing  through  the  day,  and  all  of  the 
following  night. 

I  remember  to  have  heard  the  late  Luther  Clegg,  of  Chatham 
county,  tell  delightfully,  of  two  sermons  preached  by  Dr.  Leigh, 
while  Presiding  Elder  of  the  Raleigh  District.  One  of  these  con- 
tained a  description  of  the  resurrection  of  Lazarus.  The  tomb, 
the  crowd  about  it,  the  difference  of  feeling  which  actuated  them  ; 
the  weeping  sisters,  and  their  touching  address,  "Lord,  if  thou 
had  been  here,  my  brother  had  not  died;"  the  agitation  of  the 
Saviour,  himself  in  tears,  was  so  graphically  described  that  the  con- 
gregation became  oblivious  to  everything  save  the  voice  and  thought 
of  the  preacher.  Repeating  the  command  of  Christ,  "Take  ye 
away  the  stone,"  he  then  exclaimed  in  trumpet  tones,  "Lazarus, 
come  forth  !"  The  congregation  was  startled.  The  scene  was  as 
real  to  them  as  it  was  to  the  Jews  of  old.  They  looked  to  see  the 
dead  man  come  up  before  them,  and  when  he  added  in  gentler, 
but  authoritative  tone,  "Loose  him,  and  let  him  go,"  some  invol- 
untarily left  their  seats  to  unbind  him. 

The  other  instance  occurred  in  Johnston  county.  It  was  a 
Quarterly  Meeting  occasion,  and  Dr.  Leigh  had  preached  one  of 
his  masterly  sermons.  Among  his  auditors  at  that  service  was  an 
infidel,  attracted  to  the  service  by  the  fame  of  the  preacher.  As 
he  left  the  church  he  made  this  comment  on  the  sermon  :  "I  have 
heard  other  men  preach,  and  they  have  struck  me  sledge-hammer 
blows  ;  but  Dr.  Leigh  throws  at  a  man  hammer-anvil-and-all  /" 

The  Rev.  John  K.  Edwards,  D.  D. ,  writing  his  personal  rec- 
ollections of  Dr.  Leigh,  says,  "I  first  saw  Rev.  H.  G.  Leigh 
at  the  Conference  held  in  Norfolk,  Va. ,  February,  1836.  His 
personal  appearance  impressed  me  favorably.  He  was  then  in  the 
prime  of  his  life.  He  was,  I  should  say,  five  feet,  ten  inches  in 
height,  perhaps  six  feet.  At  that  time  he  was  not  so  fleshy  as  at 
a  later  period  of  life.  His  face  was  radiant,  and  of  a  very  hand- 
some cast  and  mould  ;  his  nose  a  striking  feature  ;  his  eyes  clear, 
calm,  and  full  of  expression  ;  his  head  magnificent  ;  his  hair  rich 
and  lustrous,  inclining  to  ringlets  ;  his  complexion  ruddy  and 
bright  ;  his  whole,  physique  perfect  ;  his  voice  unsurpassed  in 
melody,  intonation,  and  compass. 


I  heard  him  preach  but  once  during  the  Conference  session. 
His  text  was,  "I  am  crucified  with  Christ ;  nevertheless  I  live  ; 
yet  not  I,  but  Christ  liveth  in  me  ;  and  the  life  I  now  live  in  the 
flesh  I  live  by  the  faith  of  the  Son  of  God  who  loved  me  and  gave 
himself  for  me. ' '  His  exegius  of  the  text  was  delivered  in  a  quiet, 
natural  manner.  The  statement  of  his  text  was  distinctly  an- 
nounced, the  doctrine  strikingly  illustrated  and  enforced  ;  but  it 
was  not  until  he  came  to  the  application  of  his  subject  that  he 
reached  the  highest  power  as  an  orator  and  public  speaker. 

In  this  department  of  his  great  sermon  on  that  occasion,  he 
made  climax  after  climax  of  surpassing  grandeur  and  sublimity. 
He  had  a  peculiar  shrug  of  the  shoulder,  and  a  peculiar  breathing, 
approaching  a  suppressed  cough,  (I  can't  describe  it)  that  always 
preceded  these  great  and  overwhelming  outbursts  of  eloquence. 
In  describing  the  man  who  "lived  after  the  flesh,"  in  opposition 
to  the  one  "crucified  with  Christ,"  he  had  occasion  to  allude  to 
the  sensualist  ;  and,  in  speaking  of  a  certain  sin  to  which  this 
character  was  addicted,,  he  raised  his  voice  to  its  high  trumpet 
tones,  and  in  the  most  impassioned  manner  pealed  out  the  sentence  : 
"This  is  the  sin  that  deals  damnation  round  the  land;  what  I 
should  call  the  very  steamboat  of  hell  !"  The  effect  of  his  sermon 
was  powerful  and  impressive. 

He  possessed  an  extraordinary  magnetic  power  over  his  audience. 
I  have  seen  vast  multitudes,  under  his  camp-meeting  out  door  ser- 
mons, sitting  and  gaping — tears  falling — lips  quivering — appar- 
ently unconscious  of  anything  around  them  ;  and  then,  suddenly, 
by  a  striking  gesture,  and  a  corresponding  utterance  of  the  won- 
derful voice  that  never  broke,  I  have  seen  a  whole  crowd  swayed 
and  moved  like  the  forest  before  the  storm. 

On  one  occasion  which  comes  up  distinctly  to  my  memory,  at  a 
camp-meeting,  held  at  Soap  Stone  Church,  in  the  Raleigh  circuit, 
some  twelve  miles  from  the  city  of  Raleigh,  he  was  preaching  to 
a  very  large  congregation.  The  subject  led  him  to  describe  the 
perilous  condition  of  a  sinner,  unconscious  of  his  danger.  This 
he  illustrated  by  one  of  his  inimitable  figures  of  speech.  He  rep- 
resented a  little  child  in  pursuit  of  a  butterfly.  In  its  chase, 
around  and  around,  it  came  to  the  brink  of  a  deep  well — for  a 
moment  it  paused  ;  then  it  was  in  the  act  of  extending  its  little 
hand  to  pluck  a  flower.  It  toppled.  Just  at  that  moment  he 
sprang  across  the  platform,  and  cried  out  in  a  most  startling  and 
plaintive  voice,  "My  God,  it's  gone  !"  The  whole  congregation, 
by  a  common  impulse,  sprang  to  their  feet,  and  many  shrinked  as 


— 10 — 


if  they  had  seen  the  child  actually  disappear  in  its  downward  de- 
scent. 

For  nearly  six  years  preceding  his  death  he  was  without  an 
appointment.  The  strong,  well  knit  frame,  of  which  a  Grecian 
athlete  might  have  been  proud,  was  tortured  by  rheumatism  ;  but 
his  zeal  for  the  glory  of  his  Master  was  unconquerable.  He 
preached  at  the  College  and  in  the  neighboring  churches,  as  often 
as  his  health  would  permit  and  occasion  offered.  Once  when  the 
College  Chaplain  was  absent,  he  had  engaged  Dr.  Leigh  to  fill  his 
pulpit  for  him  on  the  following  Sabbath.  The  Doctor  prepared  a 
sermon  for  the  occasion,  but,  as  he  entered  the  pulpit  a  different  text 
from  that  which  he  had  selected  impressed  itself  upon  his  mind, 
and  the  conviction  that  he  should  preach  from  that,  instead  of  the 
other.  What  the  one  first  selected  was  we  do  not  know.  The 
one  from  which  he  did  preach  was,  "He  that  being  often  reproved 
hardeneth  his  neck  shall  suddenly  be  destroyed,  and  that  without 
remedy."  One  who  was  present  says,  "The  sermon  was  one  of 
remarkable  power,  and,  at  its  close,  he  called  for  penitents.  A 
large  number  of  students,  with  streaming  eyes,  went  to  the  altar 
of  prayer  ;  and  that  service  was  the  beginning  of  a  revival  which 
embraced  nearly  all  the  young  men  in  the  college. ' ' 

We  must  not  suppose  from  this  incident  that  his  sermons  were 
not  carefully  prepared.  Many  of  his  discourses  were  not  only 
thought  out,  but  they  were  written  in  full.  He  had  too  high  a 
sense  of  ministerial  responsibility  to  go  before  a  congregation  with- 
out having  made  the  very  best  preparation  his  circumstances 
would  allow,  and  too  much  respect  for  the  intelligence  of  those 
who  came  to  hear  him  to  think  they  could  be  entertained  and  ben- 
efitted by  "airy  declamations."  His  sermons  in  manuscript  con- 
stitute about  all  of  his  literary  remains  ;  yet  his  mind  was  of  a 
high  order,  capable  of  grasping  the  most  abstruse  themes  of  science 
and  theology. 

It  has  been  a  matter  of  surprise,  to  which  those  who  knew  his 
fitness  best,  have  not  failed  to  give  expression  since  his  death,  that 
he  did  not  give  the  world  a  volume,  or  volumes  on  some  of  the 
great  themes  with  which^familiar,  and  for  which  he  was  so  em-  kx.  W*«Ld 
inently  qualified.  But  we  really  need  not  wonder  at  this.  If  he 
had  any  ambition  for  authorship  he  had  no  time  to  gratify  the 
desire.  His  hands  and  heart  were  full  of  work  on  lines  that  Prov- 
idence had  chosen  for  him,  and  he  wisely  concentrated  his  energies 
on  his  pulpit  work,  and  carrying  to  a  successful  issue  the  educational 
matters  he  had  enterprized. 

Dr.  L.  C.  Garland,  late  Chancellor  of  Vanderbilt  University, 

— ii — 


regarded  him  as  one  of  the  greatest  minds  of  the  age,  and  this 
opinion  is  echoed  by  Drs.  W  .A.  Smith  and  J.  H.  Edwards,  and, 
indeed,  by  all  who  knew  him  and  were  capable  of  judging. 

Rev.  W.  A.  Smith,  D.  D. ,  said  of  him  in  a  funeral  discourse  de- 
livered at  the  time  of  his  death,  "The  first  time  I  saw  Dr.  Leigh 
was  at  the  Portsmouth  Conference,  February,  i8?6.  His  move- 
ments in  social  life,  his  speeches  and  bearing  in  Conference  ses- 
sion, and  particularly  his  preaching,  engaged  my  special  attention. 
I  .soon  determined  in  my  own  mind;  that,  in  many  respects,  he  was 
by  far  the  most  prominent  member  of  the  body.  I  have  known 
him  well  since  that  period  ;  served  with  him  in  important  public 
positions  ;  broken  many  a  lance  with  him  in  debate  ;  and  have 
found  to  the  present  time  no  reason  to  change  my  opinion.  Dr. 
Leigh  had  few  equals  in  the  pulpit.  Sound  in  theology,  bold  in 
conception,  often  brilliant  in  fancy,  and  appealing  in  all  his  efforts, 
no  less  to  the  heart  than  to  the  head,  he  stood  a  prince  among 
pulpit  men." 

Bishop  John  C.  Granberry,  says,  "My  personal  knowledge  of 
Rev.  H.  G.  Leigh  was  slight,  chiefly  confined  to  the  years  of  my 
student-life  at  Randolph- Macon  College.  I  counted  it  a  great 
privilege  to  hear  him  preach  at  a  camp-meeting  in  1848.  He  had 
then  passed  the  meridian  of  his  power  ;  but  that  sermon  sustained 
his  fame  as  one  of  the  foremost  preachers  of  his  day,  and  it  was  a 
day  of  great  preachers.  The  text  led  him  to  dwell  on  the  judg- 
ments of  God  against  sinful  men  and  nations  which  the  Holy 
Scriptures  record.  His  descriptions  were  graphic,  vivid,  terrific. 
He  stirred  and  swayed  the  multitude.  Dramatic  genius  was 
possessed  by  him  in  an  eminent  degree,  without  affectation,  with- 
out seeking,  almost  without  consciousness.  The  stories  he  told, 
and  the  scenes  he  depicted  seemed  present  to  the  senses  of  the  con- 
gregation, as  they  gave  themselves  up,  eye,  ear,  and  soul  to  the  im- 
passioned speaker.  When  I  was  a  youngman,  I  heard  Dr.  Landon 
C.  Garland  remark  that  of  all  the  men  he  had  met,  he  regarded  Dr. 
Leigh  as  by  nature  the  most  highly  gifted.  I  repeated  this  re- 
mark to  Dr.  Garland  while  he  was  Chancellor  of  Vanderbilt  Uni- 
versity ;  he  had  forgotten  it,  but  said  he  would  not  take  back  the 
judgment  which  he  had  expressed  so  many  years  before." 

Rev.  C.  F.  Deems,  D.  D. ,  who  was  himself  a  master  of  assem- 
blies, says  :  "Dr.  Leigh  was  great  as  an  orator.  I  have  heard 
Summerfield,  Bascom,  Mamtt,  Breckinridge,  Hawks,  Bethune, 
Cookman,  and  Henry  Clay  and  his  compeers — and  I  have  never 
heard  a  man  who  seemed  to  me  to  approach  Hezekiah  Gilbert 
Leigh  as  a  natural  orator.    I  never  saw  him  try  to  produce  an  ef- 

— 12 — 


feet,  but  the  magnetic  power  of  his  genius  seemed  naturally  to 
shoot  itself  into  his  audience  whenever  he  was  fired  with  the  themes 
of  the  Gospel.  This  power  was  wondrous,  and  wondrously  unap- 
preciated by  its  possessor. ' ' 

If  other  testimony  be  needed  to  convince  the  most  sceptical,  I 
may  point  them  to  the  commanding  position  to  which  he  so  early 
attained  among  his  brethren  of  the  Virginia  Conference,  and  which 
he  held  in  that,  and,  afterward,  in  the  North  Carolina  Conference, 
to  the  close  of  his  life.  Within  six  years  of  his  reception  on  trial, 
he  was  elected  by  his  Conference  a  delegate  to  the  General  Con- 
ference— a  very  unusual  occurrence — and  was  re-elected  at  each 
succeeding  election.  He  was  a  member  of  the  ever  memorable 
General  Conference  of  1844,  but  sickness  prevented  his  attending. 
He  was  also  a  member  of  the  Convention,  called  under  the  ''Plan 
of  Separation,"  for  the  organization  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South.  He  was  elected  to  the  General  Conference,  the 
most  august  body  of  the  church,  as  soon  as  he  was  of  eligible  age, 
and  this  fact,  and  the  one  to  which  allusion  has  already  been 
made,  that  he  was  re-elected  as  long  as  he  lived,  is  proof  beyond 
question  of  the  high  estimate  put  on  his  abilities,  as  well  as  of  the 
affectionate  regard  of  his  brethren. 

"But  in  the  midst  of  a  glorious  career  of  usefulness,  it  pleased 
God  by  a  most  painful  and  prostrated  affliction,  to  command  him 
to  comparative  retirement. ' '  About  ten  years  before  his  death  he 
was  attacked  by  a  painful  rheumatic  affection,  which  soon  became 
chronic,  and,  for  the  most  part,  disqualified  him  for  any  very  act- 
ive sendee  as  an  itinerant  preacher.  At  intervals  his  sufferings 
were  very  great.  Eighteen  months  before  his  end  he  suffered  a 
partial  paralysis  of  his  left  side,  and  in  July  following,  a  paralysis 
of  the  kidneys,  which  it  was  .thought  at  the  time,  would  prove 
fatal  in  a  few  hours.  He  rallied,  however,  so  far  as  to  encourage 
the  hope  that  he  might  recover  his  usual  health  ;  but  on  the  9th 
of  September  he  was  seized  with  a  violent  attack  of  dysentery, 
which  so  prostrated  him  that  he  sank  into  a  comatose  state,  from 
which  he  never  recovered,  only  as  he  was  aroused  for  a  few  mo- 
ments at  a  time,  till  he  slept  in  death  on  the  18th  of  Sept.,  1853. 

His  life  and  labors  here  have  closed  ;  but  "he,  being  dead,  yet 
speaketh."  "His  works  do  follow  him,"  and  a  grateful  church 
rises  up  to  repeat  the  commendation  which  the  Master  long  ago 
gave  him  :  '  'Well  done,  good  and  faithful  servant  !"  Happy  shall 
it  be  for  us  if  the  recollection  of  his  life  and  labors  shall  stimulate 
us  to  fulfill  in  our  measure  the  ministerial  office  with  such  fidelity 
that  he  and  his  co-laborers  shall  not  be  ashamed  of  us  in  the  King- 
dom, into  which  he,  and  they,  have  entered. 

—13— 


I  shall  close  this  address  with  some  reflections  on  the  sources  of 
Dr.  Leigh's  great  usefulness  to  the  church  in  which  his  life  was 
spent,  and  to  the  cause  of  Christ  in  general.  • 

A/ong  these  sources  of  usefulness  I  would  specify  the  following  : 

1.  A  sound  body,  and  an  active,  well  trained  mind. 

The  description  of  his  bodily  appearance  by  Dr.  Edwards,  given 
in  the  body  of  this  address,  though  highly  wrought,  is  but  the 
sober  truth.  A  medallion  likeness  of  him,  struck  by  Randolph- 
Macon  College,  and  furnished  me  by  Richard  Irby,  Esqr. ,  Secre- 
tary and  Treasurer  of  the  College,  (and  which  I  have  the  honor  to 
present  to  the  Historical  Society  in  his  name)  and  a  crayon  por- 
trait which  I  personally  present,  shows  the  head  and  bust  of  an 
Apollo.  The  Masters  of  Art  could  desire  no  better  model  after 
which  to  fashion  a  likeness  of  one  of  the  gods.  Revs.  S.  Lea,  J. 
B.  Martin,  and  I.  W.  Avent,  each  of  whom  knew  him  well,  de- 
clare him  to  have  been  "the  handsomest  man  they  ever  saw." 

But,  to  this  symmetry  of  form  was  added  a  vigorous  constitution, 
which  gave  him  great  power  of  endurance,  and  enabled  him  to 
perform  with  comparative  ease,  tasks  which  would  have  been  im- 
possible to  men  less  fortunate  than  he. 

A  strong  mind  in  a  weak  body  is  not  to  be  despised  ;  but  a  strong 
mind  in  a  strong  body,  is  one  of  nature's  most  priceless  gifts.  An 
oil  lamp  soon  burns  itself  away,  but  the  sun  shines  on  forever. 

To  a  mind  not  only  bright,  but  strong,  he  added  the  embellish- 
ments to  be  obtained  by  cultivation,  in  the  study  of  text  books, 
and  an  acquaintance  with  what  has  come  to  be  denominated  for 
their  worth — the  "English  Classics."  This  gave  him  not  only 
the  readiness  of  speech  which  never  allowed  him  to  falter  for  a 
word,  but  an  elegance  of  diction  which  was  a  delight  to  all,  and  a 
never  failing  charm  to  the  more  cultured  ones  among  his  hearers. 
And,  above  all,  his  intellect  had  received  the  anointing  of  the 
Holy  One  ;  and  this  gave  him  an  insight  into  the  truth  of  God 
which  made  his  thoughts  luminous,  and  gave  to  his  sermons  a  di- 
rectness and  power  not  to  be  obtained  by  "the  trickery  of  art." 
He  wrote  much,  and,  by  this  mental  discipline,  gave  to  his  dis- 
courses a  methodical  arrangement,  an  accuracy  of  statement,  and 
a  beauty  of  expression,  impossible  to  extemporary  speech. 

2.  He  had  a  clear,  and  deep,  religions  experience. 

He  was  converted  at  an  old-time  camp-meeting.  His  experience 
was  satisfactory  after  the  songs,  prayers,  and  shouts  of  the  meet- 
ing had  died  away.  The  root  of  the  matter  was  in  him,  and  in 
the  joy  of  a  conscious  possession  of  salvation,  he  longed  to  tell  others 

"The  old,  old  story, 

Of  Jesus  and  his  love." 

—14— 


His  heart  was  full  of  it,  and  he  never  wearied  in  telling  about 
it.  Justification,  Adoption,  and  the  Witness  of  the  Spirit,  were 
themes  on  which  he  delighted  to  dwell,  and  were  the  solace  of  his 
hours  of  affliction.  Dr.  W.  A.  Smith,  President  of  the  College, 
was  with  him  much  during  his  last  illness.  He  tells  us,  "The 
topics  which  interested  him  most,  were  the  faith  of  assurance,  in- 
spired by  the  Holy  Spirit  ;  the  rich  comfort  it  afforded  him  as  he 
drew  near  the  Jordan  of  death  ;  the  bright  and  glowing  light  it 
threw  over  its  otherwise  dark  valley  ;  the  glory  that  awaited  the 
children  of  God  in  the  heavenly  rest  ;  the  curious  and  interesting 
inquiries  which  would  be  answered  in  the  heavenly  state  ;  the  dif- 
ficulties in  both  mental  and  moral  nature,  which  would  be  solved  ; 
and  the  glorious  advance  of  mind  along  the  illimitable  fields  of  in- 
finite knowledge,  developing  at  every  step  of  the  vast  progression, 
the  amazing  wonders  of  Diety,  filling  the  ever  increasing  capacities 
of  the  immortal  soul  with  that  large  measure  of  heavenly  joy  which 
the  eternal  fountain  of  light  and  love  could  alone  supply. ' ' 

At  the  period  when  it  was  supposed  he  was  in  a  few  hours  of 
his  dissolution,  I  spent  some  time  with  him.  The  conversation 
turning  on  his  state  and  prospects,  he  dwelt  with  peculiar  interest 
on  the  rich  comfort  afforded  him  by  the  great  Bible  truth  of  the 
Witness  of  the  Spirit  :  and  though  he  felt  confident  of  a  safe  trust 
in  Christ  ;  a  sweet  assurance  of  acceptance,  there  seemed  to  open 
to  his  view  so  bright  and  glowing  a  prospect  of  the  truths  yet  to 
be  revealed,  in  the  fields  of  knowledge  and  comfort  provided  by  the 
love  of  Christ,  that  he  narrowed  down,  by  comparison,  the  attain- 
ments already  made,  to  a  point  so  contemptible  in  his  own  eyes,  as 
to  cause  him  to  loathe  himself,  and  exclaim,  "Oh,  if  there  were 
not  a  daj's-man  betwixt  God  and  me,  how  could  I  stand  his  search- 
ing eye  !    Thank  God,  bless  God,  for  such  a  Saviour." 

The  day  before  his  death,  I  visited  him,  and  found  him  fast 
sinking.  Just  before  leaving,  as  it  was  not  deemed  proper  to  fatigue 
him  hy  conversation,  I  only  sought  to  enquire  :  "Watchman  what 
of  the  night?"  He  turned  his  fading  eye  upon  me,  and  with  a 
smile  of  triumph  playing  on  his  countenance,  he  softly  said  in 
reply  to  my  inquiry,  if  he  still  felt  that  his  trust  was  in  his  Saviour. 
"Oh  yes  !  What  should  I  do  without  that?  Jesus  is  with  me  ! 
My  trust  is  in  him  alone. ' ' 

"Calm  on  the  bosom  of  his  God," 

He  leaned  his  weary  head  ; 
And  passed  beneath  the  chast'ning  rod, 

To  where  the  Christ  had  led. 

j.    Another,  and  the  final  source  of  his  gteat  usefulness ,  which  I 
shall  mention,  was  his  consecration  to  his  work. 


—15— 


He  was  a  man  of  one  work,  and  seems  never  to  have  lost  sight 
of  the  vow  he,  in  common  with  all  our  ministers  take,  to  "draw 
all  their  cares  and  studies  this  way. "  The  words  of  St.  Paul, 
'  'This  one  thing  I  do, "  might  have  been  the  motto  of  his  life.  He 
did  not  fritter  away  his  life  in  indolence,  nor  dissipate  his  energies 
on  that  which  had  no  immediate  connection  with  his  labors  as  a 
servant  of  the  church.  His  ministerial  life,  for  the  most  part,  was 
spent  in  District  work.  At  that  time  the  Districts  were  geographic- 
ally much  larger  than  now,  and,  as  there  were  but  few  rail-roads 
they  were  more  laborious  to  travel.  The  exposure  necessary, 
under  such  conditions,  was  doubtless  the  main  cause  of  the  rheu- 
matic affection,  to  which  after  a  struggle  of  ten  years,  other  com- 
plications having  risen  in  the  time,  he  succumbed  in  death,  at  an 
age  when  he  should  have  been  but  little  beyond  the  prime  of  life. 

He  died  in  his  58th  year,  eaten  up  by  his  zeal  for  God's  house, 
and  the  glory  of  His  name. 

The  sword  never  rusted  in  his  hands.  He  kept  it  sharp  and 
bright  by  constant  use,  and  when  it  was  wrested  from  his  grasp 
by  Death,  "it  was  warm  with  recent  fight."  It  has  been  forty- 
three  3'ears  since  he  left  us  to  be  "present  with  the  Lord,"  and 
near  a  half  century  since  his  voice,  and  the  sounds  of  his  battle- 
axe,  were  heard  on  the  fields  of  conflict  with  "the  powers  of  dark- 
ness ;"  but  the  influence  of  his  life  and  labors  still  lives  as  an 
inspiration  to  his  successors  in  the  ministry,  and  an  ever  in- 
Teasing  blessing  to  the  Church. 

"The  memory  of  the  just  is  blessed,"  and,  though  his  works 
shall  give  him  immortality,  ungrateful  shall  we  be,  if  we  fail  to 
keep  his  memory  fresh  in  the  minds  of  men.  To  this  purpose  I 
consecrate  this  effort,  in  behalf  of  the  Historical  Society,  and  my- 
self,  to  whom  its  preparation  has  indeed  been  a  labor  of  love. 

The  memory  of  such  a  life  can  not  perish  ;  but  it  were  a  crime 
in  us  to  contribute  to  its  neglect  ! 


The  Mitchell  Manfg.  Co.,  Petersburg,  Va. 


3*v  # 


